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Defying a state-imposed media blackout, Syria’s citizen journalists are keeping protest coverage alive, in a country that until only a few months ago barred access to social media networks.

By Natacha Yazbeck

Defying a state-imposed media blackout, Syria’s citizen journalists are keeping protest coverage alive, in a country that until only a few months ago barred access to social media networks.

In this citizen journalism image made on a mobile phone and acquired by the AP, Syrian anti-government protesters carry a banner in Arabic that reads: "No Rifaat and no Khaddam, we want a step forward," referring to Rifat Assad, an exiled Syrian opposition figure and uncle of the current President and former Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam, as they gather in the coastal city of Banias, Syria, Friday, April 22, 2011.

Defying a state-imposed media blackout, Syria’s citizen journalists are keeping protest coverage alive, in a country that until only a few months ago barred access to social media networks.

“With the efficiency of the networks that were developed over the past few weeks, through which we can now see into every town and village in Syria, there is no way the regime can stop informati